Identity Theft Schemes
Trojan Horses
A Trojan horse is a program that installs malicious code that is hidden or harmless until an action, such as clicking a link, is executed. Once this code is launched, the hacker may be able to capture keystrokes to gather passwords or other confidential information. Trojan horses are often spread through email or are embedded in web pages. Attackers often will include Trojan horses with other viruses, spyware, and worms into "free" downloads, such as screensavers.
Ways to Detect Trojan Horses
- By their nature Trojan Horses are difficult to detect. The best way to tell if your computer is infected is to run a scan of your system with a security software program. We recommend that you take advantage of a complimentary one-year subscription to McAfee VirusScan Plus and Site Advisor to detect and remove these threats.
Ways to Defend Against Trojan Horses
- Download McAfee VirusScan Plus and Site Advisor. The complete inbound and outbound firewall protection automatically trusts known good applications and helps block Trojans, spyware, and key loggers.
- Keep your operating system updated. If you use a Windows operating system, enable the automatic windows updates or download Microsoft updates regularly. A computer with an updated operating system behind a firewall is the best defense against Trojan and spyware installation.
- Download the latest version of your internet browser to ensure that it is also fully updated and utilizes the latest technologies to identify and filter out sites that can install Trojans.
- Open attachments only from sources you trust.
- Be careful when engaging in (peer to peer) file sharing. Trojans can sit within file sharing programs waiting to be downloaded.